Educational material.



UNITED STATES Patented August 18, 1903.

PAT NT .FFFICE.

EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 736,448, dated August 18, 1903.

Application filed February 24, 1903.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILHELMINA SEEGMIL- LER, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Indianapolis, in the count-yofMarion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Educational Materials, of which the following is a specification.

In the modern practice of instructing small children in the public schools various sorts of material are used for the purpose of teachingmanualdexterity. Amongsuchmaterial is a form of slitted fabric with which small strips are used by means of which the children are taught the art of weaving, the product being a mat of basket-like weave. These small children are naturally of varying capacities, and it is therefore desirable that the parts used should be of varying widths, the wider widths being furnished to the smaller and less capable children and the narrower ones to the more capable children, the patterns to be woven varying from the simplest and coarsest to the finer and more complex. In order that all these varying conditions may be satisfactorily met, the teacher is required to procure a comparatively large quantity of the material, including each of the various widths, to supply the varying demands,which of course cannot be accurately anticipated, and an excess over what will be used must therefore necessarily be provided. Whether these materials are supplied at the public expense or, as is the fact in many cases, the teachers are required to furnish them, the result is a considerable unnecessary cost, which where the teachers are required to f urnish the material is quite burdensome.

The object of my invention is to provide material capable of being used for the purposesin question of such a character that only one sort need to be furnished, so that a single supply will meet all requirements. Said invention therefore consists in uniform sheets having certain marks inscribed thereon of such a character as to indicate accurately where the same shall be cut to produce any of the widths for the purpose in question. The use of my improved material also involves practice in cutting and in ruling,which is also an advantage.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Serial No. 144,6 52- (No specimens.)

which are made a part hereof, and on which similar reference characters indicate similar parts, Figure 1 is a plan view of such a sheet before the same is out; Fig. 2, a similar View of the mat end of the strip end; and Fig. 3 a similar view of the strip end after the sheethas been out into its constituentparts, Fig. 2 also showing a part of the strips interwoven, illustrating one variety of Weave.

The sheets, as the drawings clearly ind icate, have marks thereon along which cuts can be made by the teacher or child with ordinary shears or scissors, and the marks are of such a character as to enable the operator to cut the sheet in strips of any desired width. In the sheets which I have prepared I have made the lines alternately continuous and interrupted and have arranged the continuous lines one-half inch apart and the interrupted lines equidistant between the continuous lines, thus forming spaces one fourth of an inch wide. The strips can therefore be cut when thus marked in any desired multiples of one-fourth of an inch. In the work in question the instruction of the children usually begins with strips one inch wide, and this width is successively decreased as the children become more expert to one-half and finally one-fourth of an inch in width. Of course any other widths may be adopted as desired; but it is desirable in any case that the wider widths be multiples of the narrow width.

As shown in the drawings, these prepared sheets are doubled-that is, the sheet as a whole is to be first cut into two parts, and one part is then to be slitted centrally, forming the body of the mat,while the otherhalfis tobe cut entirely through, and thus formed into strips. To this end the markings on one part extend substantially entirely across the same, while the others stop at a suitable distance from the edge thereof to leave a margin. The interrupted lines also have another use. They may be utilized in instructing the small scholars in ruling straight lines. To best serve this use, the inscribed line portions should be quite short, so as to furnish mere beginning marks or points for the ruler. This is illustrated in the drawings, in which the markings, as before stated, are alternately continuous and. interrupted lines, the

interruptions of the latter being for nearly the entire length, and over the blank space intermediate the marks in question the child can rule, thus completing the line before doing the cutting.

By the use of my improved material, therefore, the child is taught ruling, cutting, and weaving instead of weaving only, as with the ordinary material, while, as heretofore indicated, the saving in cost is considerable on account of the less quantities required.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. As a new article of manufacture, a sheet having inscribed thereon at regular intervals alternately-varyin g markings, said markings forming guides for the slitting of said sheet, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a sheet having inscribed thereon markings at regular intervals, said markings forming guides for the slitting of one part of said sheet, and forthe cutting of the other part of said sheet into strips, substantially as set forth.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a sheet having inscribed thereon markings at regular intervals, said markings forming guides for the cutting of said sheet and being alternately substantially continuous and interrupted lines, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a sheet having two sets of markings, one extending entirely across one half of the sheet, and the other positioned within the other half of the sheet leaving a continuous margin thereabout, substantially as shown and described.

5. As a new article of manufacture, a sheet having two sets of alternately-varying markings, one set extending entirely across one half of the sheet forming guides for the cutting thereof into strips, and the other set p0- sitioned within-the other half of the sheet forming guides for slitting but not separating said sheet, substantially as shown and described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 20th day of January, A. D. 1903.

WILHELMINA SEEGMILLER. [l.. s]

Witnesses:

CHESTER BRADFORD, JAMES A. WALSH. 

